Exploring accessibility and faith with Images of God: Through the Lens of Disability
The launch of Images of God: Through the Lens of Disability, celebrates the art and theology of Christians with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Ontario. This exhibit, as a part of Art on the Wall at Martin Luther University College, features photos, voice images, collages, and reflections on God-and self-representation. The art was unveiled at the Art and Vespers 2025 Exhibit Launch.
Curator and host of the exhibit, Dr. Keith Dow, is a Visiting Researcher at Luther and the Manager of Organizational and Spiritual Life at Karis Disability Services.
For The Images of God project, Dow interviewed eleven Ontario-based Christian adults with intellectual disabilities about their understanding of God and themselves. Each participant created a collage that represents who they are, and completed a photovoice exercise, taking photos that reminded them of God and journaling about the process. They then spoke about why they took these pictures and identified other photos that reminded them of God.
“I came across this opportunity through the University of Birmingham where they were advertising this. It's called a psychology cross training for theologians. I submitted an application. It was the call for fellows was around how we think of how we conceive of and think about or understand God,” Dow said.
“Working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are often excluded and marginalized from research, whether it's in theology or psychology or what have you, there's many different barriers that people can face.”
Dow wondered what it would look like for people who might not think in typical ways or be able to access sacred texts using traditional methods.
“I think, at least from my perspective, it's an untapped area of connecting theology with intellectual disabilities and people not necessarily understanding those things and how they connect with each other,” Dow said.
This opportunity proved to be an incredibly impactful experience.
“It was a really beautiful and meaningful time to connect with people and hear [through] the photo voice project,” Dow said. “Seeing the photos that they took and hearing about their journaling process for that and how those pictures represented God to them was wonderful. We did a collage project as well, which is part of the art exhibit, where we traced their head and then they worked on putting a collage together that really represents them from magazine clippings and stickers and other sorts of things.”
Ultimately, this project can contribute to broadening the scope of understanding about the ways in which people engage with and understand God.
“The first [takeaway] is that we have a lot to learn from each other. I think sometimes we look to people who have lots of fancy degrees to, to teach us and tell us about who God is. And that's not wrong, like people with who have studied for a long time have certain insights that you wouldn't have if you didn't do that kind of study or didn't think in that way,” Dow said.
“The same can be true for people who are often overlooked. When it comes to how we understand God and relate to God in our lives. That's what was so encouraging about meeting with folks in this way and using some of these creative approaches. I learned a lot about who God is and how God relates to people and meets us where we're at.”
Understanding the role accessibility plays in faith practices was one of the most prominent themes Dow has discovered through this project.
“One theme [that stood out to me] was how we understand God and some of the challenges or barriers to understanding God as well [in terms of] accessibility practices," Dow said.
Challenging people’s perceptions of how each person should connect with and interpret sacred texts is one of the many accessibility considerations that needs to be considered in faith spaces.
“How accessible are sacred texts? The small print [for example] —there are thankfully a lot of different ways to engage with that, like audio bibles. But just be mindful that not everybody's going to engage with sacred texts in the same way,” Dow said.
“I'm a theologian, I’m a pastor, but I was challenged by the devotional and faith practices of many of the folks that I interviewed in terms of their dedication to prayer, the ways they read their scripture and were dedicated to that practice as well.”
Images of God: Through the Lens of Disability, is a free exhibit and is available for public viewing at Keffer Chapel until April 30, 2025. You can learn more about the Images of God project here. For church resources connected to faith and disability, you can visit karis.org.
Curator and host of the exhibit, Dr. Keith Dow, is a Visiting Researcher at Luther and the Manager of Organizational and Spiritual Life at Karis Disability Services.
For The Images of God project, Dow interviewed eleven Ontario-based Christian adults with intellectual disabilities about their understanding of God and themselves. Each participant created a collage that represents who they are, and completed a photovoice exercise, taking photos that reminded them of God and journaling about the process. They then spoke about why they took these pictures and identified other photos that reminded them of God.
“I came across this opportunity through the University of Birmingham where they were advertising this. It's called a psychology cross training for theologians. I submitted an application. It was the call for fellows was around how we think of how we conceive of and think about or understand God,” Dow said.
“Working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are often excluded and marginalized from research, whether it's in theology or psychology or what have you, there's many different barriers that people can face.”
Dow wondered what it would look like for people who might not think in typical ways or be able to access sacred texts using traditional methods.
“I think, at least from my perspective, it's an untapped area of connecting theology with intellectual disabilities and people not necessarily understanding those things and how they connect with each other,” Dow said.
This opportunity proved to be an incredibly impactful experience.
“It was a really beautiful and meaningful time to connect with people and hear [through] the photo voice project,” Dow said. “Seeing the photos that they took and hearing about their journaling process for that and how those pictures represented God to them was wonderful. We did a collage project as well, which is part of the art exhibit, where we traced their head and then they worked on putting a collage together that really represents them from magazine clippings and stickers and other sorts of things.”
Ultimately, this project can contribute to broadening the scope of understanding about the ways in which people engage with and understand God.
“The first [takeaway] is that we have a lot to learn from each other. I think sometimes we look to people who have lots of fancy degrees to, to teach us and tell us about who God is. And that's not wrong, like people with who have studied for a long time have certain insights that you wouldn't have if you didn't do that kind of study or didn't think in that way,” Dow said.
“The same can be true for people who are often overlooked. When it comes to how we understand God and relate to God in our lives. That's what was so encouraging about meeting with folks in this way and using some of these creative approaches. I learned a lot about who God is and how God relates to people and meets us where we're at.”
Understanding the role accessibility plays in faith practices was one of the most prominent themes Dow has discovered through this project.
“One theme [that stood out to me] was how we understand God and some of the challenges or barriers to understanding God as well [in terms of] accessibility practices," Dow said.
Challenging people’s perceptions of how each person should connect with and interpret sacred texts is one of the many accessibility considerations that needs to be considered in faith spaces.
“How accessible are sacred texts? The small print [for example] —there are thankfully a lot of different ways to engage with that, like audio bibles. But just be mindful that not everybody's going to engage with sacred texts in the same way,” Dow said.
“I'm a theologian, I’m a pastor, but I was challenged by the devotional and faith practices of many of the folks that I interviewed in terms of their dedication to prayer, the ways they read their scripture and were dedicated to that practice as well.”
Images of God: Through the Lens of Disability, is a free exhibit and is available for public viewing at Keffer Chapel until April 30, 2025. You can learn more about the Images of God project here. For church resources connected to faith and disability, you can visit karis.org.